EA Sports FC 25 review: More of the same

Considering the aplomb and the revolutionary zeal that surrounded the name change from FIFA, the first release of the new EA Sports FC series was less than overwhelming. In the ‘25 edition, the game strives to redeem itself by improving the simulation dynamics while providing gamers with greater control. Although you're still better off keeping your expectations in check, the incremental upgrades to graphics, gameplay and gung-ho commentary – among others – make FC 25 a meaningful release that both long-standing fans and new players will love.

Two new features stand out, being anything but incremental: Fast-paced 5v5 ‘Rush’ matches that effectively replace Volta football, and a feature called FC IQ that brings intelligent tactical options to the table.

The game runs flawlessly at 60 FPS and medium settings on a Dell XPS 9560 powered by an Intel Core i7-7700HQ and an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Laptop meaning its hardware requirements are rather modest. From our extensive testing across a variety of hardware configurations, it is possible to get decent gameplay in EA Sports FC 25 without a dedicated graphics card. Check out our dedicated benchmark article for detailed tests and numbers.

As something a lot more substantial than just a standalone successor to the Volta mode, Rush is everywhere in FC 25 - Kick Off, FUT, Career, and Clubs. This five-on-five revamp mimics the haphazard nature of street football much more closely than Volta by integrating features of popular games into a unique medley that is probably best described as enjoyable chaos. From the Rocket League-inspired kickoffs to hockey-style penalties, a typical Rush game is an intense seven minutes of kicking, shuffling, blitz passing, aggressive tackling and often uncoordinated play.

Volta was an earlier attempt at this sort of rapid, free-form football, as a separate mode where you could choose between 1v1, 3v3 and 5v5 play. Rush eliminates the former options and even cuts down on the customizability of player characters, but brings a richer and more social arcade-style gameplay.

In Rush, teams of four players and one automated goalie face-off in a cramped pitch where the rules are very much different from regular 11-on-11 games. Penalties and offsides, for example, are now executed from the final third of the field instead of the regular half-line affair – a weird rule that takes some getting used to. And if you're found guilty of breaking rules, you get a blue card instead of red, which forces you to stay on the sidelines for one minute while you contemplate your existence.

Like it was with Volta, there are no fixed positions in Rush, so players are free to roam the pitch as they please. This also means online modes can be outright annoying when playing with ball hogs who simply refuse to pass. On the bright side, it is an inherently social style of play, and gamers are unlikely to tire of it easily - even those with misgivings about FIFA/FC.

On the other hand, FC IQ is an upgrade to last year's PlayStyles. Work rates, which determine a player's contribution to an attack or defense episode, have been replaced by a more complex system of Player Roles which vary by position. A lead striker, for example, can choose to play as a ‘Poacher’, ‘False 9’, or ‘Advancing Forward’. Gamers have to pay extra attention to the skill indicator – Lewandowski, for example is a False 9++, but only an Advancing Forward+. The absence of a plus indicates that the skill level is ‘basic’, while only the more skilled players may have a Role++. One more thing to keep in mind is that not all players will be capable of performing well in a given role.

Each player gets three to five player roles to work with, meaning EA FC 25 boasts more than 50 possible tactical options in any match. The result of this is a noteworthy improvement in fluidity of formations and the overall atmosphere of the game. For the less conscientious gamer, FC IQ is a welcome addition, enabling a more relaxed style of play. More advanced players might struggle with it at first, because it goes against muscle memory and common sense to leave tactical choices to the computer. The feature is quite promising but lacks depth and seems unfinished. This is by no means a deal-breaker, but it certainly could be so much better.

For example, the real-world tactics of coaches like Pep are hard to implement within the existing player roles. 50 tactical choices might seem like a lot, but it is far from exhaustive. Advanced tacticians want to be able to combine a Mezzala and inverted winger to manage attack, while retaining defensive midfielders who use their stats to actually defend and not just fall back. For now, FC IQ is quite limited and occasionally gives some players the wrong roles. Tempered expectations, everyone?

As the leading football simulation, FIFA or EA Sports FC has always been able to brag of impressive graphics. New camera angles, adjustments to lighting, sleek in-game menu boxes and social media feed make matches in FC 25 a feast for the eyes. The physics of jerseys billowing in the breeze and hair movement adds a cinematic feel to the presentation. As usual, the players look sharp and well-detailed, although not completely out of the uncanny valley.

The much touted ‘Cranium’ system tries to improve that unnatural, glossy feel and allows for improved customization for a wide range of generic faces. In Youth Academy (the Career mode), players’ younger selves look less like the 30-year-olds they represent and more like the teenagers they are supposed to be. Cranium tech particularly shines when the lighting is carefully controlled, like the newly reintroduced pre-match team walkouts. It tends to fall short in most other circumstances, however.

Outside the pitch, the user interface is mostly similar to last year's. This can be an initial drag on the game. While the menus win at aesthetics, the user experience is suboptimal if you're using a controller. It is all too easy to get embroiled in this menu hell when you're only just trying to toggle the player role in the middle of a game.

Gameplay is a mixed bag: You have some brilliant new features yet can't help but notice strays of ages-old issues that should have been fixed by now. One such perennial problem is defense.

The slippery defense in EA FC is a frustratingly familiar fiend that refuses to go away. In fact, compared to FC 24, defense is implemented somewhat worse here in our opinion. Despite FC IQ helping to improve team tactics during an attack, it does absolutely nothing, zero, zilch, zip, regarding defense. When any mediocre striker under aggressive manual control gets head to head with your defense line, ratings and all forms of logic fly out the window. It is ironic that in spite of this graphical glory, a historic rebrand, and two decades of annual releases, proper tactical defense is still out of reach. But a gamer can dream.

It can be argued that FC IQ helps defense indirectly by making it so much easier for the gamer to manually control his defense line when necessary, but even that is a bit of a stretch. For now, at least, no self respecting gamer can fully rely on the weak AI handling in FC 25.

Tactics aside, dynamic weather effects are definitely one of the more brilliant ideas from EA Sports this year. In a stroke of genius, somebody figured that wind and rain should be able to interfere with the game mechanics in the same way that inclement weather affects players' performance in the real world. In FC 25, strong winds can occasionally roll the ball off-course. A wet pitch will make gameplay more unpredictable. The caveat is that it can be upsetting and there is some merit to the argument against this much realism in a PC game, so not everyone will be a fan. Thankfully, an option exists to toggle particular features of the weather on or off. It's too bad that the effects don't work in online modes, so one will have to resign to playing offline if you want the most realistic in-game conditions.

FC 25 brings a long-awaited refresh to the Career mode. The mode is still a very menu-dense affair, but that is the whole essence of Career. Youth tournaments now include Rush-style matches for you to test and upskill your talents, which can be scouted from 160 different countries. The fast-paced games are a clever invention and provide a nice shakeup in activity during a Career session. Best of all are the new controls and customization options - now you can tweak nearly every aspect of your training plan.

You can now manage women's football, too. Interestingly, you can make the switch between male and female teams within the same career. The salaries and transfer fees involved are, of course, vastly different in order to mirror the scale of real-world economy between men's and women's football.

The Cranium tech is very much at play here. Not only does it provide graphical fidelity improvements in Youth Academy, the tech also enhances the experience when gamers choose to play out the careers of iconic legends in the modern era. You can now manage the career of a youthful David Beckham or Thierry Henry or Wayne Rooney and organize their training regimen. Cranium is still very hit and miss though, so don't get your hopes up too high.

The new Clubhouse is where you get to show off cosmetic stuff. It is a social hub where one gets to see other players' avatars and show off new micro-transactions, of which unsurprisingly, there are many. FC Points can be used to buy cosmetics you can use in the Clubs mode, and players are free to customize many things and have ways of upgrading the facilities. Perhaps the only thing Clubhouse is good for is Club Rush – the 5v5 action-packed games are always a thrill.